The Software Wars
by Charles RocketBoy
Summary: The year is 2299, and the Autobots are under attack by an unseen hostile force...
1. 1

Author's Notes: This is part of the TMUK fanfiction group. Basically all you need to know is ALL the old Marvel comics happened; the Autobots have Cybertron back, but are under the current control of the evil ex-Imperial tyrant Star Saber; the Decepticons are hiding in satellites around the planet, waiting for their chance.

**SOFTWARE WARS**

**Cybertron, 31/12/2298**

The city of Iacon has seen much hardship in its time. Many Autobots still clearly remember the day when Trannis reduced it to rubble, and the thousands of Vorns in which they were treated like vermin, fodder for the Decepticon smelting pools. The war is over now, and Iacon has been repaired, but people still remember the pain and hardship of those years.

It's New Year's Eve in Iacon. Autobots lie crowded in homes and pubs, counting down. Rack'n'Ruin and the Dinobots are in Maccadam's Old Oil House, drunk on Energon champagne ("this bar accepts no responsibility for any corrosion of fuel pumps caused by our alcohol") and trying unsuccessfully to remember the words to some old Earth song.

Fireworks blast off in the sky, lighting the sky and deafening the Autobots with explosions. The sound of celebration can now be heard all over the city, even in the room of former Wrecker Topspin. The lights of the fireworks reflect in his blank optics. The sound of explosions do not register in his audio sensors.  
Nothing will register for him at all. And the only clue is the cable linking his mind to the Cybertronian cyber-net.

**Crashed System **

**By Charles Ellis **

Twin Twist just lies there, not comprehending what the police are telling him. It's all extraneous anyway. All that matters is that Topspin is dead.

Topspin is DEAD.

Fellow Jumpstarter and Wrecker, practically his brother, and now a metal shell in a morgue somewhere.

Topspin is-

"Sir?"  
He looks blearily at Siren. "What?"

The ex-Headmaster coughs nervously. "I repeat; the autopsy has shown no physical cause of death, no gunshot or whatever. We know he had been on the cyber-net a few hours prior to his body's discovery, and then his mind was destroyed by a virus… We think this was a deliberate killing; someone hacked into his mind and implanted a fast-acting virus in him. Do you know any Transformer with a motive, or the capability-"  
"WHAT?"

Siren and the others subconsciously backed away. "Uh, I said-"  
"YOU are telling me that someone MURDERED Topspin," said Twin Twist. His voice was low and menacing. "And you come to me, with no lead?"  
"Twin Twist, we need information! Who would do this?"  
The Jumpstarter laughed. "Just about every Decepticon currently active- now why aren't you trying to FIND THEM?"  
"I'm domestic security, Decepticons are off-world and come under the-"

"SHUT UP! Get the SLAG outta my home! **GO**!"

Siren and his men ran out. Twin Twist stayed very still and very quiet for a few seconds, before transforming and smashing the table with his drills.

"ARGGGGGHHHH!"

And then there was just him, in amongst a bunch of wood fragments.

"no…"

****************************************************************

**Decepticon stronghold, unknown area of space, 2/1/2299 **

"ONSLAUGHT!"

Soundwave stormed through the dusty corridors of the base, in a foul mood. WHERE were those blasted Combaticons? The Decepticon army were fugitives, exiled from their own home planet, half-forgotten by the world- they were NOT in a position where it was good practise for crack commando squads to just bugger off whenever they felt like it!

The Combaticon commander emerged from another corridor and said: "Problem, Soundwave?"  
"Yes, there IS, Onslaught. This is the fifth time you've left the base without authorisation. It's getting… irksome. Need I remind you that we are, at the moment, at a tactical disadvantage? We cannot risk anything happening to Bruticus."  
"Don't worry," said Onslaught dismissively. "We're not putting ourselves at risk-"  
"Well, what ARE you doing?"  
"Someone has hired us for a job. I figure the Decepticons could use the money. It's basically terrorist work, a little hacking- don't worry, it's safe as far as we're concerned."  
Soundwave narrowed his optics. "See it stays that way. We need the Combaticon's, Onslaught, but we do NOT need rebellious elements. Need I remind you how much of Starscream was left after Galvatron slew him?"

"Understood sir," muttered Onslaught.

************************************************************************

Rack'n'Ruin and Sandstorm found Twin Twist in Maccadam's, nursing a glass of oil. Sandstorm shook his head.

"Poor guy. I mean, we all knew Topspin, but Twin Twist is taking it much harder…"  
"Of course," said Rack. "They were practically brothers," added Ruin, "same model, same production date… They go way back, before the Wreckers was founded."

"Yeah, I know… Wonder where the others are?"  
"Broadside is on a colony right now, Carnivac never knew Topspin, NO idea where Whirl is, Ultra Magnus will be turning up for the funeral with the Sparkabots, and Springer…" "We checked with Springer, and he said he'd 'make arrangements'," sneered Rack. "His buddy is DEAD and he'll make arrangements… I tell ya, things have changed a lot. I'm almost glad I'm a derelict."  
Sandstorm didn't want to continue this, and so headed for the Jumpstarter. "Hey."  
"Hmmm? Oh, Sandstorm. Hi."

"We heard the news, we decided to come here for the… er…"  
"Funeral." His voice was that of a dead man's. "Say it. FU-NE-RAL. I know about death, Sandstorm."  
"Yeah, but… me and Rack'n'Ruin know how close you two were. For what it's worth, we're sorry."

"I remember," said Ruin, "all those fights Topspin won. Remember how he freed about 16 prisoners in the Smelting Pool single-handedly. That's no way to go, mind frying. He was a WRECKER. He should've died in battle, the fuel of Decepticon's coating his drills. Not like- like-"  
"I know."  
"…"  
"…"  
"…"

"Waitress," said Twin Twist, "more oil please."

************************************************************************

**Star Saber's office, 3/1/2299 **

"No doubt about it," said Siren. "This was a definite hack. Also, I've checked the cyber-net at the time of the hack; this came from right within New Iacon. And a government building."  
"Hmmm." Star Saber clasped his hands together. "So it wasn't the Decepticons, but someone from within my own government. Anyone working in that building with a grudge against the Wrecker?"  
"No sir." Siren wrung his hands and said: "This fits with the recent hack on grunt worker Coil, but the Combaticons were involved in that… And it may also be related to the recent botched assassination on Perceptor-"  
"I drew that conclusion myself," said Star Saber. "So… We appear to be facing a Software War, Siren."  
"WHAT?! But I thought that was just a hypothetical-"  
"It is quite real, Siren; at one point, the Autobots had a lot of equipment ready for a Software War. And DON'T tell me that this may be cyber-crime; hacking Coil so he would hack Springer, this recent assassination of Topspin, Perceptor half-destroyed by an explosion caused by a power malfunction which itself was caused by an unknown hacker- This is terrorism, Siren. More than that, it's a declaration of war."  
"But by who?"  
"That is the question. That is the question."

TO BE CONTINUED

**OUTBREAK **

**By Charles Ellis **

**Iacon Security HQ, 2/2/2299 **

Nightbeat said: "Play it again, Siren."  
Once more, the video footage showed a market plaza in Cybertron, with hundreds of Autobots wandering around. Then it all went white.

"Rewind and play back at half speed."  
The same footage, only now they could see a random Autobot in the top left glow slightly before the explosion.

"Halve speed and play back again, this time focus on top left."

This time, they could see a pixelly close-up of the Autobot, just walking. And then he shuddered, his face went blank and he exploded.

Nightbeat sighed. "Suicide bomber. Still… it's odd. He didn't look like he was in control, like- Damn."  
"Looked like he'd been hacked?" guessed Siren.

"Yeah. Chalk it up with the hacking of Coil, the attempted murder of Perceptor, the murder of Topspin and three security Autobots, and now THIS."  
A quick background check showed that that Autobot had been a labourer who'd walked that way every day to get to work; he'd then had his self-destruct function go off in public, killing three other Autobots and wounding four. Oddly, his brain module had been damaged in the explosion, something that was specifically NOT meant to happen.

"Well, let's keep working," said Nightbeat. "We need to track down whoever is causing all this."

**"Slaughter City", 3 hours prior **

Vortex grinned. "That's it. Our little surprise should be kicking in right now."  
Onslaught nodded. "Good. And the rest of it?"  
"Two days from now."  
"Good. Let's head back to base."

"Those little creeps better pay up on time," said Swindle. "We NEED that stuff; what's taking them so long?!"  
"Relax, Swindle. They need us. After all… we have dirt on them. They back out of THEIR end of the deal, then we might 'accidentally' blab the whole thing to Autobot Command… Now, let's leave before someone recognises us…"

**Requiem Port, New Iacon, 8/2/2299**

Ultra Magnus got onto the platform, looked down at the gathered and took a deep breath. PRIMUS he hoped he didn't screw this up-

"Topspin was a Wrecker. An Autobot resistance fighter, slagging the enemy, facing death head-on. He was… he…" He shook slightly. "I'm sorry… I-I just…" He gripped hard on the podium, steadying himself. "Look, Topspin was one of us. A Wrecker. And that's all I can say."  
He got down, passing the assembled group. It was small, for Topspin hadn't been a very sociable Autobot. His only real companions had been the other Wreckers, and Impactor, Roadbuster, Guzzle & Xaaron were dead; Carnivac, Cattila & Skids had never been actual Wreckers; Whirl was AWOL and Springer… the bastard hadn't even turned up. There was just him, Broadside, Sandstorm, Rack'n'Ruin, Sizzle & Fizzle and Twin Twist.

Twin Twist just had this horrible blank look on his face. His optics had lost any semblance of the spark of life, and his entire face was nothing more than some eerie mask. Did he even register what was going on?

Nobody knew what to say; Wreckers had NEVER died in anything less than a battle, and it seemed to Magnus like they were all slightly embarrassed. But no, it was something else- it was despair. Despair that a Wrecker could die in their own home. Despair that a Wrecker could die without fighting a valiant battle, surrounded by the shells of Second Generation cannon fodder. Despair that they could actually die like a normal person.

It was a terrifying thought for them.

Broadside pressed a button, and the pod containing Topspin's corpse launched, heading for the Sun.

And it was really over. He was really dead.

Hovering above them was a modified helicopter. It transformed and landed onto the nearby rooftop, and flinched slightly as the pod flew past him. His face was always expressionless, a cube of metal with a single cyclopean eye- nobody ever knew what he was thinking.

Whirl shook his head in anger. Yet another Wrecker cut down. Impactor, Roadbuster, now Topspin…

He didn't join the others; he wouldn't know how to act. He'd been away too long… But he was still a Wrecker, and he had to be here to honour his old friend. Few others did; Star Saber had deliberately kept the news quiet, and so Topspin was given THIS meagre send-off.

_This isn't right,_ thought Whirl. _He should have had crowds mourning his passing, soldiers firing weapons into the air, he should have had a CEREMONY. But no, that's for the Primes of this world, isn't it? No, we can't have funerals for soldiers who go in and get the job done, we have to make a big fuss over some idiotic archetype who we all know is going to return ANYWAY! This isn't fair… This isn't right… Not for Topspin… 's not right… _

**Cybertronian atmosphere **

****

The pod flew upwards, leaving the mortal world behind and heading for the beckoning Sun.

And unnoticed by any on Cybertron, Astrotrain swooped out of thin air and grabbed the pod.

Soundwave nodded to the Triple Changer as he entered the lab. "You got it."  
"Yeah," said Astrotrain. "One Wrecker, all ready and waiting for probing!"  
Bombshell gave a sadistic grin and opened up the pod. "Never probed a corpse before, Soundwave- should be an interesting experiment!"  
"I expect results, Bombshell. Do NOT fail me in this."

**????, 9/2/2299 **

Ratchet was not in a good mood. He didn't think much of Star Saber and his neo-Fascist cronies anyway, and now he was expected to drop everything to just have his optics shut off and then be taken to some slagging "classified base". At least Sideswipe was here- he could trust Sideswipe. Well, he supposed so- who knew anymore? Life on Cybertron had become far more complicated since the ex-Imperial had taken control. And sometimes it was very short.

_Was this what we fought and died for? To be oppressed all over again? _

Star Saber was waiting for them in a small, rusty room, with a large vid-screen taking up a large part of the wall. He seemed tense.

"Ratchet. I have summoned you here for a matter of global security. You may have heard of the recent mind-hackings-"  
"Yes."  
"Now. This is not just random killing. This is far more dangerous- the attack on Perceptor and frequent Combaticon sightings are linked with the hackings, and I believe several of my officials are under mind control."  
"Why would mind-hackers want to kill Perceptor?"  
"We don't know. He has been fully repaired, but he has no idea why it happened. This leads Springer and I to believe that this is part of a Decepticon plot. We appear to be in a Software War."  
"Ah. I remember Rodimus talking about them. There were Decepticon and Autobot bases set up a million years ago, ready for a Software War…"  
"This is one of them, rebuilt and upgraded by me. We hope to be able to strike back at the attackers from here."  
"Hang on, hang on… How do I fit into this? I'm just a doctor, you want Wheeljack or someone like-"  
"No. We need you," Star Saber said. He sighed. "We appear to have a virus. An Autobot was programmed to explode recently, in a crowded area- now it appears he'd been programmed to carry special Nanobots to spread to nearby Autobots and implant a computer virus in their minds. And many Autobots interface through neural connections with the many Internets and Intranets on Cybertron…"

The implications hit Ratchet in the gut. The virus would spread from Autobot through the nets, into other Autobots. And then again. And again.

Half of Cybertron could be infected.

"Oh, PRIMUS!"  
"Indeed. This is a serious problem. I need you to work on an anti-virus; we have found one infected Autobot for you to experiment with."  
"That's all well and good," said Ratchet, "but there's a virus spreading! You need to stop it!"  
"We're initiating a lockdown on the 'net now. I have several of my best agents locating the infected, blocking off their home access ports from the 'nets and having them brought here, to stem off the infection. We have found about one hundred infected already…"  
"I-I'll get to work right away."  
"Good. The resources of Cybertron are at your disposal."

News of the virus was kept quiet, for a while. Star Saber knew the problems it could cause; anarchy, maybe even open rebellion. He wouldn't let that happen. So he squashed all news of the frequent deaths among Transformers, and claimed the lockdown on the 'Nets were because of glitches. In retrospect, that was stupid; now everybody with half a hard drive knew he was covering up something. And the people kept dying. And some of them went missing, for no given reason…

Ratchet worked frantically with the abducted Autobots, trying to find a cure- he was making good progress. Nightbeat and his men were searching for the infected, so they knew who to treat or abduct; others continued investigating into who was behind the hacking.

That is not the story. The true story was when a group of Autobots got together and started talking about the recent happenings. The true story was when others joined in. The true story were the Autobots who were fed up being ground under Star Saber's heel, and who were scared that they might die or just disappear, and didn't know what was going on and were SICK of it.

The true story was when the riot started.

**New Iacon, 18/2/2299 **

The Public Service Address Screen exploded into a million glass fragments, and the crowd cheered. Behind them fires tore their way through skyscraper after skyscraper. The mob moved open, breaking windows and starting fires and smashing up any member of the security forces that tried to stop them.

And the crowd was getting bigger.

Sideswipe screeched to a halt next to the police barricade and transformed. He had his black armour plating on, and a Pathblaster by his side. He watched grimly as the crowd continued their destructive rampage. Miscellaneous Autobots smashed their way into an office building and there was a great cheer as an explosion echoed from within it. The mob was snarling, a thousand cries of anger and paranoia mixing into one angry whole.

"…why are you abducting us-"

"…slagging 'Cons!"

"…we have a right to know-"

Siren gulped as the crowd came closer. "What do we do, sir?"  
Sideswipe said nothing for a moment, and merely wiped his gun down absently. Finally, he spoke, in dull tones.

"Star Saber has instructed us to use lethal force to keep them back."  
"WHAT?!"  
"Yeah, that's what I said. But people are going to die in a minute."  
"Yes," said Siren coldly. "Because we'll be shooting them."  
"NON-rioters, wise-aft. Quite frankly, they're a bigger priority and this riot will hit a residential district in about three cycles. I don't like it either, but we don't have a slagging choice."

The crowd surged on and then fell back as they were blasted with deadly accuracy. Rioters literally exploded, their brain modules breaking apart and mech-fluid splashing across the ground. And the roar of anger become cries of pain and fear.

By the morning, 17 rioters were dead, along with four security patrolmen who'd tried to hold the riot back. Twenty buildings had been burnt or severely damaged. And this only increased the paranoia and resentment bubbling beneath the surface of Cybertron.

**????, 19/2/2299 **

****

"I can't believe you did that," said Springer. His hands clenched and unclenched. "The thing is, Star Saber, that you instructed your little militia to shoot dead civilians."  
"Anarchists," he said coolly."  
"And why did they riot? Could it have something to do with the fact you're withholding news of this virus from them?" He jabbed his finger in Star Saber's face. "Slag, you didn't even tell ME until six days ago, and I CO-RULE Cybertron still. Or did you 'forget' to tell me?"  
"This coming from the Autobot who still hasn't found out who attacked Perceptor, or why? Or maybe you have, and you're withholding evidence just to spite me?"  
Springer shifted from side-to-side, obviously uncomfortable. "I-I just haven't found much out."  
"Sure. In the meantime, the virus. Still a problem, riot or no. Ratchet says he has a cure, and is testing it now. That particular crisis is over, and we didn't even have to reveal anything."

"Oh, great. So now everyone will still remain paranoid. You'll release those abducted, mind-wiped of course, and still everyone will think abductions are still going on. And they'll remain scared and angry-"  
"Springer, if we disclose this, we would have a full-scale REBELLION on our hands, and neither of us want that."  
"…No, of course."  
"Now get out and see to the cure."

Ratchet sighed and allowed himself a small smile. The cure worked. It frigging WORKED! Hundreds were dead, but that was the last- nobody else would die from this virus.

"It's done Springer," he said, grinning. "It's cured."  
Springer smiled back. "Good. We'll upload and distribute it ASAP. Thank you for your co-operation, Ratchet."  
"Oh, don't mention it."  
"There is just one thing, before you go, standard procedure."  
And a cranial interface cable oozed from Springer's head and plunged into the startled medic's forehead.

+++MEMORIES ACCESSED.+++

+++ALTER/DELETE MEMORIES. Y/N?+++

+++Y+++

+++DAEMON FILE: TROJAN ACCESSED. UPLOADING TO DESIGNATE: RATCHET…+++

***********************************************************************

The last of the funeral pods launched. They contained the last Autobots to die of the virus, the last ten of three hundred.

They cleared Cybertronian orbit, heading for the Sun. And like the rest of the three hundred, they were captured before they reached there.

TO BE CONTINUED

**Check **

**By Charles Ellis **

**Star Saber's HQ, New Iacon, 6/3/2299 **

"The people are angry," said Great Shot. Outside of Star Saber's tower was a mob of Autobots, picketing it and screaming abuse. "We should go public with the Software Wars-"  
"Certainly not!" said Star Saber. "It'd turn civil unrest into planet-wide rioting and anarchy!"  
"In that case," said Springer, "we should up our efforts to track down the hackers. The Combaticons have been identified as the most likely suspects, but we've had no luck tracking them down."

"Damn. The Decepticons have been quiet for a decade, who'd have thought they'd do something this ambitious?"  
"Well, Saber," said Springer, "if you'd spent more effort and resources in tracking them down and finishing them off, we might not be in this situation. Oh wait, did I say 'we'? My mistake. It's just YOU that's in the Smelting Pool."

"Springer… You are part of this government. What effects me-"  
"Doesn't effect me. I'm a veteran of the war and legendary leader of the Wreckers. You're just a hated dictator. This civil rest was bound to happen some day anyway."

Star Saber was absolutely livid. "I run this planet well-"  
"You do so by oppression and generally annoying every Autobot on the planet."

Star Saber glared at Springer and started to leave the room. "I'm going for ISS."  
"Sure, back out of the argument," he sneered. "How a coward like you remains in power is beyond me. You practically BEG for some idiot with a gun to come along and cap you."

"And it will never happen in your lifetime."

************************************************************************

_Damn the Autobots! I came in and rebuilt Cybertron from a war-torn wreck into a prosperous planet! Under my rule, the Decepticons are nothing but a ragtag group of thugs! Civil rights and freedoms must surely be less important than what I've given them. I give them all this and all they do is riot and whine about oppression. Do I throw them into Smelting Pools?(It's tempting with some of them) Do I hunt them like turbo-foxes? No, I merely remove their ability to cause trouble and mess up post-war Cybertron. Surely that is logical! _

_ Idiots. Would they prefer that political naïf Springer in charge? PUTTUP. _

Star Saber sighed and connected himself up to his room's ISS computer. After a while, his optics dimmed.

+++INVOLUNTARY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN- FUNCTIONING.+++

+++MOTORLOCK VIRUS- UPLOADING...+++

+++MOTORLOCK VIRUS UPLOADED. DESIGNATE STAR SABER INCAPACITATED. BROADCASTING TO DESIGNATE SPRINGER.+++

**********************************************************************

Ratchet pushed his way through the crowd towards Star Saber's HQ. Sideswipe helped by beating up the nearby protestors so Ratchet could get through them. One of them called him a Decepticon and far ruder names, so Sideswipe hit him harder.

"It's like a mob of Sharkticons!" said Ratchet.

"Yeah, lousy fraggers. C'mon, we need to get to Star Saber!"  
"On it!"

The two of them transformed and sped off towards Star Saber. The leader of Cybertron had had his body freeze up totally- this was urgent. The two of them reached Star Saber's quarters and walked in.

"Anyone else around?" asked Ratchet.

"Nah. Good thing, that- who knows what could happen if there was? C'mon, we better get to work."

The guards to Star Saber's room came back, having sneaked off to the nearby pub. As they did so, they noticed the door was open. Frowning, the two of them entered the room, and saw Sideswipe & Ratchet standing with smoking guns over the slagged form of Star Saber.

And somewhere else, Springer smiles.

TO BE CONTINUED

**Meet the New Boss **

**By Charles Ellis **

**Cybertron, 7/3/2299 **

Nobody remembered who he was.  
He was Whirl, one of the Wreckers. But nowadays he kept out of the public eye. Nobody remembered him, and he liked it that way. The Wreckers had just never been the same, not since Impactor had died. And Cybertron… He almost wished the Decepticons were still in power, it would be preferable to Star Saber. At least he could shoot the 'Cons…

He absent-mindedly brushed some dust from the table in his cramped apartment, and turned on the TV.

Rack'n'Ruin practically LIVED in Maccadam's Old Oil House. They spent half the day there, and where they went afterwards, nobody knew. Gut didn't care- Rack'n'Ruin always paid their bar tab, unlike SOME veterans he could mention (_cough_theDinobots_cough_).

"Turn on da Teev, man," slurred Rack. Ruin grunted in agreement before falling into his Energon shake.

Gut sighed. _I've really got to stop spiking the Opening Time drinks with Shanix. If they discharge lubricant on the floor again… _

He turned on the TV.

Twin Twist hadn't gone outside in two weeks. He hadn't said a word in three weeks. The other Wreckers had given up on him- they were all sad over Topspin, but he'd taken it harder than the rest. They were concerned he might be suffering mental problem. Already the Reductionists were coming round, trying to use his sorrow to get him to convert. 

The last one had needed three days of intensive medical care.

Out of habit, not really registering what he was doing, Twin Twist turned on the TV.

The Combaticons were feeling really smug with themselves. They'd just struck a huge blow for the Decepticon cause, and all without Galvatron knowing (like they wanted him knowing about the mind-hacking, they wouldn't trust HIM with that technology). Only one way to check if it'd succeeded.

Vortex turned on the TV.

**Planet-wide broadcast- message by Springer **

"Greetings. Last night, Star Saber was assassinated by the mind-hacked Ratchet and Sideswipe. As a result, I am now in control of Cybertron.

"And so it is my duty to inform you that all the recent events- the attempted assassination of Perceptor, the death of Star Saber, the recent deaths, the ed at his old comrade, hero of a thousand raids, one of the Wreckers, the slagging WRECKERS, and he felt his Spark grow cold. "You can't be serious," he croaked. "Twin Twist, don't do this…"  
Twin Twist just looked away and walked out.

**Decepticon subterranean base, Cybertron **

"Springer's been mind-hacked," said Soundwave.

Astrotrain frowned and looked over at the TV. Soundwave was growing more tense and aggressive ever since the missile strike- no, before that. Back when he'd first got wind of the mind-hacking. Soundwave scared him. Cautiously, he said: "How can you tell? His speeches seem to be good, he's informing the people, giving them hope-"  
"He's not. Listen closely. Focus on the words."  
Astrotrain squinted and did so. And then he noticed it- yes, his speeches did seem good. But listen closely, and you would see that they were designed to INCREASE paranoia. Talk of remaining vigilant, enemies without faces, warnings of new strikes… All designed to confuse and scare the already paranoid Autobots. Whoever was behind this was very subtle.

"And remember that Galvatron wants us to be ready for a serious terrorist attack, in revenge for our satellites. The puppet-masters behind this want to drive Cybertron into internal conflict, get the Autobot government to collapse into anarchy, and basically kill as many Transformers as possible without having to fire a single shot themselves. Ingenious. We should have done that."

Soundwave would've gone further, but Bombshell arrived. He practically _bounded_ into the room, his optics lit up.

"I-I've done it!"  
"You've mind-hacked the corpse?"  
"Th-that's just it!" Bombshell gave them all a smug grin. "I've found it out… A virus did hit Topspin, it DID burn out quite a few of his systems… but it left the key ones operational, but damaged enough to make him LOOK dead.

"He's still alive."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. 2

**SOFTWARE WARS II**

By Charles Ellis 

**Portrait of a Jumpstarter **

**By Charles Ellis **

**Decepticon subterranean base, 8/3/2299 **

****

"How can he still be alive?" Soundwave looked down at the corp- the BODY of Topspin. His mind had been destroyed by a virus, it had partially melted. How could a Transformer survive that?

Bombshell shrugged and turned back to his work. "Near as I can figure, the virus was rigged so it would cause enough damage to simulate death- knock as many systems as possible offline, stop any computer from realising he's dead, etc. Why, I dunno." He turned to Onslaught, frowning. "Did you know about this?"  
"No. We all thought the viruses were killing Autobots."  
Soundwave was worried by this. Someone killing Autobots, he could understand that. But why merely stimulate death? What purpose could that serve-

_Maybe someone wanted to have Transformer minds_.

But why? Spying? Study? A hobby? Soundwave didn't know, and this irritated him. He hated not knowing what was going on, especially when it threatened his troops. And yes, they were his. Galvatron could come blustering in with his hyperbole and drooling, but he was no commander. Soundwave was the true mind behind the Decepticons. Oh, for Megatron to be back in command… Even Scorponok would be preferable…

_Enough_, he thought. _There's a job to be done here. _

And what a job it was. Onslaught had had the idea that the virus may have left something behind in the Autobot's mind, something they could use to track down whoever had created it. It was risky, though. Bombshell would raid the data tracks, something he had done before with dead Autobots, but usually the recently dead. Topspin had been dead for 3 months, and the mind was badly damaged. Bombshell could have his core wiped, become a blank.

It was a risk they had to take.

"Are you ready, Bombshell?"  
The Insecticon nodded, cables running from his forehead into the exposed brain capsule of Topspin, removed from the head for the world to see. He concentrated, focusing his mind, preparing to

_1010101010100000111111101011010110101010100011101000011 _

interface

_010101010101111110000100101111 Name: Topspin. Faction: Autobot. Function: Jumpstarter, mining… _

4, 000, 000 MYA

_0101001010111 LIGHT primus, where am i, it's all so strange, who am/where am/what am i? _

_ There's someone next to me. He's like me, I guess. Where I'm blue, he's white; he doesn't have wings, or an optic visor. But his shape, it's like mine. I can see that he feels like I do- disoriented, scared, confused. His name springs into my mind from somewhere- Twin Twist. Jumpstarter. Like me. _

"Great work, Wheeljack."

_Others are here, watching us. _

"I call them Jumpstarters. They can handle any terrain and Topspin can even handle liquid environments. They're perfect for mining and demolitions."  
"Excellent. These Jumpstarters will be perfect for mining the moons- can we convert our remaining miners to these Jumpstarters?"  
_Mining? What is- _

_ **Digging through one material to get at others below it. Vital for gaining the resources needed to keep Cybertron from falling into ruin. **_

_ How did I know that? Is this my function, then? Is that all that I am?  
I want to talk to Twin Twist- he might now, he might have some answers, at least he'll be some COMPANY- _

"Hi. I'm Wheeljack, and this guy here is High Councillor Traachon. I'm your creator and he-"  
  
Bombshell ignored this and moved on. The birth was inconsequential. Time to check a later memory-

_Chaos bombing fire death pain _

_ The Decepticons! They're attacking the ship port I can't believe they're attacking the- _

"Topspin!"_ screams Twin Twist. _"Behind you!"  
_And it's right behind me. The flames gleam on his hide, his gun, his sneering optics. He's gonna kill me oh slag I'm going to- _

_ NO! I did NOT spend those centuries of digging to get slagged up by some moronic thug! I transform and swing at him with my drills. They rip through steel, gears, circuits, engine. There's a strange look of surprise on his face, as if he's reproachful of me for fighting back. _

_ Then he's dead. I transform and pick up the gun. _

_ I just killed a Decepticon AND I FEEL GREAT! They want to storm in here, kill my mates and take our mined stuff? SLAG THAT!  
The Decepticon had two guns. I take the other and toss it to Twin Twist. I can see a grin spreading across his face, like the one that must be on mine. _

"Come on, Twin Twist! Let's show these aft-cleaners what Jumpstarters can do!"

_I see an incoming Seeker and- _

Bombshell moved on again. REALLY fascinating seeing the Autobots win fights, but he had a job to do. Now then… How about this-

_I tear into Decepticon after Decepticon. Bring it! BRING IT ON! You think you're hard, eh? Hard enough to go after the old ones who can't transform?! EH?! EH?! TALK TO ME! _

_ Because of you, Impactor is dead, and I'm going to take it out of you _

_ One _

_ Piece _

_ At _

_ A _

_Time! _

_ And then I'm standing alone in a pile of smashed facsimile constructs. Dammit, why did it have to be you, Impactor? Why couldn't it have been- _

_ No. He was a Wrecker. One of Us. That was a Wrecker's death- a blaze of glory and heroics. That is how we should all go. Twin Twist- he said that to me during the funeral. We should all die like that, on the battlefield, being heroes. He's right. That's who we are. Wreckers. We die from being wrecked. Anything else… _

_ I wouldn't stand it if Twin Twist died any other way. I just don't think I could live in that sort of world. _

Bombshell frowned. So that was how the Autobots thought, was it? Rather like the Decepticons, it seemed, in that-

He dropped THAT line of thought very quickly. He had NOTHING in common with them. Yeah. Sure.

Next memory, then-

_MEGATRON?! We have to fight Galvatron and him as well?! Bloody 0101010101 BASTARD! You've killed them, damn you Hubcap, we're gonna 010100110011 _"Twin Twist, I see us living to a ripe old age" _0101010101010110101010111111111 _

And there it was. A little identification left behind by the virus, so whoever picked up Topspin's body would be able to tell it had been left alive by their virus. It was an odd emblem- yellow 5-sided blade objects on a navy background.

Now it was time to track the emblem to its creators. And then…

TO BE CONTINUED

**Heroes of Desirable Quality **

**By Charles Ellis **

**Maccadam's Old Oil House, New Iacon, Cybertron, 5/4/2299 **

****

"I'm really worried about him. I'm afraid he's going to get himself killed."  
Carnivac sighed and sipped on his Energon shake. "Twin Twist? Don't see why you need to talk to me about it- I wasn't exactly a Wrecker, ya know?"  
"Yeah, but…" Whirl fixed the Pretender with a steely glare. "Don't tell anyone else this, OK? The reason I came to you is because you're the only person I know in the group who has the same mentality as me. Roadbuster is dead, Twin Twist has gone loopy, Rack'n'Ruin is usually drunk nowadays and useless to talk to… There's just you."  
"Springer?"  
Whirl giggled. "Him? HA! I left because of him. He was newly created, just online… He was NOT suitable to lead. I'd have thought Impactor would have put someone with EXPERIENCE in charge… Besides, Springer didn't show up to the funeral. Screw 'im with a Philips head. Nah, he's too busy being a politician," sneered Whirl. "Making a bloody mess of it too. Nothing but riots and paranoia…"  
"Er, please watch what you say," he said nervously. "I'd rather NOT get mind-hacked by the government-"  
"What?"  
Carnivac looked around, then whispered: "Look, killing Star Saber… a good move, if you want to hurt Cybertron. But why wasn't Springer killed? And only someone close to Sideswipe coulda mind-hacked the guy. You get what I'm saying?"  
"What?! You think Springer had-"  
"I'm saying, you can't trust anybody these days. Anyone could be mind-hacked, or a hacker themselves. They blamed it on the Decepticons, but I WAS one, I'm not fooled."  
Whirl grunted. "I didn't come here for this conspiracy slag. I came because-"  
"Yeah, I know. Sorry. Look, there was a time just after Catilla died. I took it hard. Now, I found the guys who'd done it and slagged some of 'em. Maybe if we could find out who did this to Topspin, Twin Twist would snap outta it and go after them."  
Whirl mulled over this. To most Cybertronians, it wouldn't make sense. But to him… Well, he was still a Wrecker at heart, and that was how they thought. That was how Twin Twist would think. If they COULD get a lead, find out who did it…

Whirl spoke very slowly and quietly. "Springer, you say?"  
"Maybe," said Carnivac. "Makes sense to me, anyway, and I'm not some crackpot Empty in the corner of the bar."  
They talked for a bit more, then quietly left the bar.  
A few seconds later, a nondescript Micromaster slipped after them.

************************************************************************

**Decepticon stronghold, beneath Cybertron **

"…_repeat, target has left Maccadam's. Should I follow?_ BZZT."  
"Yes," said Soundwave. "I want to know what he's doing walking about. By all rights-"  
"BZZT. _Yeah, I know. Brawl out._ BZZT."

Soundwave cut the connection and turned to Onslaught. "As long as his disguise holds up, we'll soon have a lead on the hacking."  
"Yeah. We really should have gotten a better disguise than blue paint with black patterns, though."  
"We don't have much else, do we?" said Soundwave sharply.  
He got up and headed for Bombshell's lab. He had an idea that they could activate Topspin's optics and have the body broadcast the images it saw back; they could then launch it back into space in its coffin, let the hackers grab it, and then they'd get a visual of whoever was doing this-

He opened the door to find Bombshell on the floor, limbs scattered about. Topspin looked up at Soundwave with dead eyes, transformed to vehicle mode and attacked. 

**New Iacon **

The two of them slipped into an alleyway.

"Y'know," said Carnivac, "you're not what I expected. I heard stories of you being, well, mental. A crazy guy."  
"Ah, most of that was a show," said Whirl dismissively. "Sure, it really was fun being the crazy guy of the group, but… Well, things change, y'know?"  
"Yeah. Yeah."  
The two warriors stood still for a moment, thinking about dead friends and battles long past.  
And then they turned round, ran forwards, grabbed the Micromaster and slammed him into the wall.

"Trying to sneak up on ex-Wreckers and Mayhems," sneered Carnivac. "Idiot. What's your agenda, shorty?"  
The Micromaster hissed and barked, in Star Saber's voice exactly: "Release me this instant!"

They did so, taken aback. "STAR SABER?!"  
"Yes," said Saber coldly. "Can we skip the 'but you're dead' exposition, please? I'm a Brainmaster- a Micromaster embedded in the body of a regular Transformer embedded in the body of a giant. Springer tried to get rid of me by slipping a virus into me during ISS; my giant form was programmed to eject my Micromaster form in such an eventuality, to avoid termination."  
"I was right! Springer IS behind this!"  
"Look, there's no time for that!" hissed Saber. "We have to get off the street! I wanted to talk after I'd tracked you to your home, where it'd be safer… We'll just have to hope we weren't spotted."  
"Spotted by who?"  
"Carnivac, you seriously don't think that all this chaos and strife lately was caused by Springer, do you?"  
Whirl snapped his fingers. "Of course! If he wanted to usurp you, why would he deliberately let the planet sink into anarchy? Why would he use a method as risky as a Software War? He wouldn't, unless he's been mind-hacked as well! Remember how Perceptor was incapacitated last year? He probably got close to the truth-"  
"We can discuss this later," said Star Saber. "Right now, we need to reach a safer place."  


Brawl watched the three of them leave, and reported the entire conversation back to Onslaught. The reply was immediate- follow and pledge an alliance. They needed to deal with the mind-hackers, and the three Autobots seemed to be the only ones dealing with it.

**Maccadam's Old Oil House **

"That's Twin Twist, y'know. The Wrecker."  
"NO! I thought he was an Empty!"

"Always thought they were overrated, myself…"  
He was oblivious to the gossip growing around him like mould. He was totally focused on the drink on his hands. And the many empty glasses scattered about the table.

_Talk to us- _

_ You should've left me to burn- _

He drank his drink. Internal systems warned him that he was consuming too much and could damage his fuel lines.

He drank again.

He was aware of a commotion behind him, a vicious ripping sound, cries of horror. He ignored them and returned to his drink.

"_twwwntssssst_…"

He turned round to see Topspin behind him, his face a silent scream, smoke oozing from his mouth.

"Topspin… You came back… I knew you would… I knew…"

**Whirl's quarters, New Iacon **

They hadn't been very happy to see Brawl, but decided to listen to his pitch. Now they held a conference- Whirl, Carnivac, the tiny Star Saber and Onslaught via Brawl's communicator.

"Now then," said Whirl. "How are going to do this? We don't who we're dealing with, where they're situated, their motives… How do we find out?"  
"_BZZT. We WERE going to use one of the mind-hacked bodies, BZZT_" transmitted Soundwave.

"How? They're dead."  
"_BZZT. Wrong. They're only damaged enough to simulate death. We had one of them, Topspin, but somehow he activated himself and has broken free, nearly killed Bombshell too_-"  
"WHAT?!" Whirl stared in horror. "Topspin is ALIVE? And wandering around?"  
"_BZZT. Affirmative. BZZT_."

"Curious," said Star Saber. "Why are the bodies being left alive? What purpose would that have?"  
"Never mind that! We have to find Topspin before something happens to him!"  
"BZZT. Before he happens to someone, more likely. He seems confused, deranged. BZZT."  
Whirl got up and began walking. "I'm going to find him."  
The others decided to follow.

**Maccadam's Old Oil House **

Twin Twist grinned inanely at his half-dead brother, muttering under his breath. "Topspin… knew you'd come back. Knew you'd came back."  
The zombie tried to speak, but only a faint hiss came from his mouth. Twin Twist didn't notice, and pushed a drink towards him. Topspin stared at it, unsure of what to do.

"sssss…"  
"TWIN TWIST!"  
The Jumpstarter turned round to see Whirl and the others come running in. He smiled and raised his glass. "Guys! Join us, will you?"  
Whirl advanced uneasily, and took Twin Twist by the shoulder. "Come on buddy, let's take you home…" He glanced at the zombie Topspin, shuddering at the dead look in his eyes. "You too, come on…"  
The zombie shuffled after him, not registering anything that was happening. The others backed away slightly as it came nearer. Whirl ignored them and lead the two Jumpstarters out of the tavern.

"I'm in position."  
"_BZZT. Good. Intelligence says all four are gathered in there. Terminate. BZZT_." 

"Yes, Springer."  


A missile tore through the air and smashed through the window of Whirl's apartment. Time held its breath for a second. And then the room exploded outwards.

The group hadn't gotten back to the apartment yet, and so none of them were harmed. But they saw what happened.

"Someone is gunning for us," whispered Carnivac.

Whirl glanced around wildly. That missile had been fired just ten seconds ago, and the person who fired it could still be around. He could have friends. He could-

"Run."  
They ran.

They knew now that they had no choice but to stop the Software Wars, and the species behind it. Because now, if they didn't, they'd be hunted for the rest of their lives while Cybertron collapsed around them. And their chances of success were slim. They couldn't go to the Decepticon bases- they could be tracked there and Soundwave wouldn't allow it. They couldn't go to their homes- they'd be killed. They couldn't go to anyone for help, because anyone could be mind-hacked. They couldn't trust anyone.

They were on their own.

TO BE CONTINUED

**See How They Run **

**By Charles Ellis **

****

**Part 1 **

****

**Kalis, Cybertron, 8/4/2299 **

****

Kalis was a land of the dead. This is where the dropouts went, the destitute, the criminal, the insane. They fashioned a dubious existence in the crumbling buildings and ancient Autobot bases, and fought a few minor wars over wealth and fuel.

Wheezel glanced up and down the street (in Kalis, it was very easy to literally become one of the dead) and opened up his case. He grinned and pointed smugly at his merchandise. "Here ya go- Mark 2 Cyclone cannons, 'Con surplus. Ya didn't get 'em from me, here?"  
"Yeah, whatever," muttered Brawl, grabbing one of the weapons.

"There IS ammo included with this?" asked Carnivac sharply. "If there isn't-"  
"Hey, relax," said Wheezel. "Yeah, I included ammo with them. What do you take me for?"  
Brawl inspected his weapon and nodded in agreement. The six Transformers stalked off, keeping to the shadows. Well, five of them did- Topspin had to be led and was shuffling about like a pet.

"Think we shook 'em off?"  
"No," said Star Saber. "I know my security forces, and they won't stop until we're all slagged. I does NOT help that we have that brain-damaged Jumpstarter following us around. We should dump-"  
"Shut up," said Twin Twist, his voice low and menacing. "I just got him back. And you're more of a liability, short-aft; you can't even carry, let alone use, a Cyclone cannon. Give me one good reason why we shouldn't leave you for the secur-"  
"Enough!" snapped Whirl. "We need Star Saber; he is the only one of us who knows about the security forces." He spun round to face the Micromaster. "And we are NOT leaving Topspin behind. We're getting him to a medic. And we're getting his brain module fixed. Bring the subject up again, and I break your wings off. Now shut up and keep your eyes peeled."

They'd been running from the security forces for a few days now, and were finally going to meet up with Brawl's fellow Combaticons and reach a safe house. They couldn't keep running forever, they needed to find out the mastermind behind the Software Wars. Every day, paranoia and riots grew worse, and Autobots was afraid to even talk to other Autobots now in case they were mind-hacked spies. The Decepticons were worried about a second strike on them, one more devastating than the satellite attack had been.

The other Combaticons were waiting for them in a stolen freighter vehicle. "Hurry up, hurry up!" hissed Swindle. "We're sitting ducks out here!"  
The others began to head for the freighter when a bullet hit Star Saber in the back.

"GAH!"  
Whirl & Brawl spun round, catching sight of several Autobots crouched in alleys, on roofs- Brawl opened fire with his Cyclone cannon. "We've been followed! LEG IT!"  
The freighter roared to life as the fugitives clambered aboard, Brawl and Whirl providing cover fire. Enemy fire ricocheted off the vehicle and struck Brawl in the arm. He screamed an obscenity and dropped his gun, along with his entire forearm.

"Oh bloody hell!" snarled Whirl. "Hey, Onslaught! A little BACK-UP would be nice here!"  
In answer, a missile flew out of the driver's seat and hit the building to the side of the security forces. They thought it had been a misfire until part of the building fell on them. Whirl laughed like a maniac and threw himself into the freighter.

Onslaught drove off, saying: "You do know that you've broken your precious Autobot Code by killing those guys back there."  
Whirl told him in no uncertain terms where the Combaticon could stuff the Autobot Code.

"Yes, yes, very macho," said Star Saber. "Now, does anyone have any sort of plan whatsoever?"  
"Yep," said Onslaught. "We're gonna fake a corpse and rig it to record & transmit back all the images it sees."  
"So, we'll have footage of a coffin for several hours."  
"The coffin gets picked up," said Onslaught, ignoring Saber, "we get a good hard look at whoever's behind all this, and then we go to 'em and slag them hard."  
"Where are we going to get a corpse?" asked Carnivac. "We steal one or do we slag a random Autobot?"  
"We are NOT going to kill someone for this," said Whirl. Brawl looked a little crestfallen at this news. "I don't know what we're going to do, but I'm not killing civilians."  
Onslaught chuckled. "Don't try Autobot morality on us, Whirl. You capped those guys back-"  
"That was in self-defence."  
"And you didn't enjoy it in any way."  
"No, as a matter of fact," he seethed. "You think because I'm an ex-Wrecker I'll enjoy killing-"  
"You enjoyed killing Decepticons though. You 'Bots always seem to."  
"That's different."  
"Sure it is."  
The freighter left Kalis.

**New Iacon, Cybertron, 9/4/2299 **

****

The freighter pulled to a stop. A large-scale protest was going on, and traffic was backed up for miles. Onslaught could see the pickets they wielded, and it seemed they wanted a new government, a democratic one. Star Saber looked out the window, and snorted in disgust.

"I don't believe it. They are actually able to get away with that protest. Such incompetence-"  
Everyone ignored him. Twin Twist was eyeing Topspin with some concern- the poor Jumpstarter was sitting absolutely still, showing no signs of life. It tore him apart to see his friend like that- a great warrior and hero, reduced to this.

"Uh-oh," said Carnivac quietly. "Look who it is- a group of Reductionists, trying to tell everyone how the Software War is the Quint's judgement. Again. We better get out of here before the fighting starts."  
"HOW? We're deadlocked here!"

Up ahead, they could see the Reductionists preaching to a group of Micromasters. They eyed the fanatics with utter loathing.

"…and if you do not accept our creators with unconditional trust," said one, "then we-"  
"Shut UP!" screamed a Micromaster. "Things are bad enough without having to listen to your slag!"  
The Reductionist eyed him with reproach. "This is all happening because we have spurned the Quintessons. You see know this, surely."  
That had been the wrong thing to say. The Micromasters were frightened, just like every other Autobot. They wanted someone to blame, so they would have a physical foe instead of a hidden attacker that could strike them down at any time without them ever knowing. They were fed up of mind-hacked Autobots and inaction and bogeymen under their beds. And when the Quintessons said that, the Micromasters instantly thought that it was them behind the attacks. It was illogical, a moment's thinking would prove this, but they never had a chance to think.

Hydraulic screamed, "THEY'RE THE MIND HACKERS!", and the protesters attacked.

Soon a small violent incident escalated into a large riot as the frightened mob turned on the vehicles, attacking the drivers and overturning the vehicles. Explosions went off. And a little way back, Blast Off, Vortex and Whirl transformed and blasted their way out of the freighter.

Blast Off, who carried the rest of the group, and Whirl flew away into the sky. Vortex headed down towards the riot, and caught sight of a fleeing Reductionist. His arm was torn off and his chassis was dented. He caught sight of the Combaticon and called for help.

Vortex shot him. He transformed, grabbed the body and flew off.

"This is Vortex. I've found us a corpse we can use."

****

****

Springer stood at the window and looked out at the streets of his city. He could see the smoke rising from a corner of it- the riot, now destroying a very valuable roadway. Yet more Autobots killed, more fear and paranoia spread. He stared at it, and thought of nothing. He was a statue, inert and mindless.

"_BZZT. Springer, this is Siren. BZZT_."

He came to life. "Yes?"  
"_BZZT. So far, we're having no luck tracking down the fugitives. Our forces are spread across Cybertron trying to find them, and this is giving us no time to prevent these riots. May I remind you there is a lot of talk about rebelling against_-"

"Inconsequential. Find and terminate the fugitives."  
"_BZZT. Yes… sir. BZZT_."  
The tone said it all. Siren had lost faith in Springer's competence to command. And losing the confidence of a high-ranking security force chief could be very dangerous to Cybertron.

Springer didn't think about it. He wasn't able to.

And a little ways away, the puppet masters grin.

"Just a few more days. And then Cybertron burns."

**Part 2 **

****

**Tunnels beneath New Iacon, Cybertron, 9/4/2299 **

****

The tunnels beneath Iacon were alive with the sound of voices. Around a dozen Autobots lay around, cradling guns and muttering darkly about Springer's leadership. The Dinobots, Blurr, Jazz, Siren, Hound and Bluestreak; all Autobot veterans, all armed, all angry and all devoted to one thing.

Revolution.

Grimlock couldn't stand to see Cybertron tear itself apart like this. Soon the entire planet would erupt into war once again, the way Springer was running it, and the mind-hackers would be able to strike again and again without being noticed. Not while he was still around, it wouldn't.  
There were only a few revolutionaries- there was always the risk that a mind-hacked Autobot could be among them. But he trusted his Dinobots, and the others, save Siren, were all men he'd fought with, centuries ago. Surely THEY couldn't be mind-hacked? Grimlock couldn't comprehend it. And Siren- well, he'd sought Grimlock out, planning a revolution of his own, and had been quite happy to join Grimlock's instead. 

"So," he said. "We armed enough?"  
"You bet," said Jazz. "We've all got our own weapons, plus a Turbo Racer and two Pretender shells. We're pretty well armed."

"And I have made sure that half the guards at the Citadel are… conveniently elsewhere," smirked Siren.  
"Good. Remember- try not to kill. We no kill our own."  
"WhataboutSpringer?" asked Blurr.

"We capture him. He may be mind-hacked. But we still kick his butt and take Cybertron for its own good." Grimlock pulled out a map of the Citadel and the surrounding tunnel network. "Now here what we do…"

**New Iacon District 5, Cybertron**

The amount of casualties was rising day by day, and Fixit knew he was useless against it. It was bad enough that Ratchet, Cybertron's greatest surgeon, had been arrested, but they were suffering from cutbacks that had been put into operation just a few days before the mind-hacking started, and Springer had shown no signs of rectifying this. Fixit was angry, and frustrated by his inability to fix the dozens of wrecked Autobots that flashed past him every day.

He was walking home now, his mind fixed on the state of the wrecks that had resulted from today's riot. There was a Micromaster who'd been trampled on by his own comrades by accident. His brain module was partially crushed. Fixit had needed replacement parts and a team of dedicated surgeons. All he had was an arc welder and a laser scalpel, because all the spare parts had been used up and they had no money for advanced equipment.

The patient had gone offline.

So wrapped up in guilt and anger, he didn't notice his stalker until they'd grabbed him.

Every paranoid talk he'd had recently flashed through his mind. It was the security force, deciding he was a threat; it was the Decepticons; it was the Reductionists, out to sacrifice him to appease their gods; it was someone trying to mind-hack him; it was…

"Don't scream," it hissed. "Walk slowly, don't make any sudden movements."  
Fixit nodded, his gears clenching. He recognised the voice from his rebel days- it was Twin Twist. He was wanted by the security forces for aiding and abetting the Decepticon mind-hackers. Fixit knew he was dead.

**Springer's Citadel, New Iacon **

****

They were the best of the best. They'd been studying all the data Springer had on the fugitives, and believed they had five places where they could be hiding. They'd hit them all soon.

They were the Off Road Patrol Micromasters. Highjump, Mudslinger, Powertrain and Tote.

"Can they pull this off, sir?"  
"According to these files. They've proven themselves under Star Saber very effectively. You saw that idiot's reign, you must have wondered why there never was any rebellion. And it's because the Off Road Patrol has exterminated them all. They'll pull this off, don't worry."

**????, New Iacon**

To his relief, Twin Twist merely dragged him to a shabby room in the middle of nowhere, filled with stolen medical equipment. Fixit frowned- could the fugitive just want to donate this out of the goodness of his Spark?

Then Twin Twist showed him Topspin. Topspin looked up with blank optics, mech-fluid oozing from his mouth. Fixit felt sick.

"Oh Primus… What kind of monster could do that to an Autobot?"  
"We'll know soon," said Twin Twist darkly. "But that isn't your concern. YOUR concern is to fix him."  
"WHAT?!" He looked at the fugitive in disbelief. "You can't be serious! I-I'm no neurosurgeon!"  
"Ratchet was too heavily guarded. And you can do this."  
"No I can't! I only know the theory here, I might end up-"  
Twin Twist moved like a bullet and pressed a gun at Fixit's neck. "You can do this," he repeated. "Do you understand?"  
"Y-yes."  
"Good."

He walked out.

**Part 3 **

****

**????, New Iacon, 10/4/2299 **

****

Topspin lay on the table, brain module out and exposed. Fixit was bent over it, trying to repair it.

It wasn't working. It was half-slagged, and it was taxing him to the max just to stop the thing giving out all together. And even if he could salvage the ex-Wrecker, he'd still be missing more than half his memories.

He didn't say this, of course, because he wanted to stay alive. Twin Twist was bordering on psychotic.

"This is ALL you guys have on the mind-hackers?" Whirl asked. "No wonder you're losing the war!"  
"Oh shut up," said Onslaught. "You Autobots have NOTHING anyway, at least we have the mind-hacker's symbol."  
Carnivac frowned and studied it further. "Blue, with pentagons around it. Odd design… I'm sure I've seen it before."

"Yeah? Where?"  
"Haven't a clue."  
"BRILLIANT." Onslaught got up and started pacing around the room. "We're holed up in some old Autobot rebel base with only a bloody logo to go on, and instead of working on it your buddy Twin Twist is wasting my troop's time by making them get medical supplies for some burnt-out wreck! And to cap it all, the best you guys can do is 'I've seen it before, but I'm too terminally stupid to know where'! SLAGGING AUTOBOTS!"  
"And you did so well on your own," muttered Star Saber.

"AND WHY DO WE KEEP THIS MORON AROUND! I mean PRIMUS, we have to look where we're walking so we don't tread on the freak!"

Carnivac ignored the ranting Combaticon and continued to study the logo the Decepticons had salvaged. It was nagging at him, but he just couldn't remember where he'd seen it…

Tote lowered the hi-rez binoculars and nodded to Mudslinger. "Sensa-scope is picking them up. We were right, they ARE in an old Autobot base. They're subterranean, I can go in, plant some mines and have it all come down on top of 'em."  
"No. We need to take them out personally, to be sure." His voice was all clip and logical, but his grin said otherwise. "Call the others, we move in now."  
The Off Road Patrol liked their job, and always had. Like most early Micromasters, they had been rebellious and angry at the world, but they had still, at least on Earth, been defending civilians from evil. But now, after a horrific incident they refused to ever speak about, it had all changed. Their allies, the Race Car Patrol, had died horribly, and this had left a mark. A mark only worsened by losing Cybertron to the Decepticons again, and witnessing the possession of Rodimus and the sacred Creation Matrix by Unicron, and being caught in the nightmarish Eugenesis War.

They had become bitter and twisted, and easily corruptible by Star Saber. Now, these Autobots had forsaken everything their side was meant to represent. They were killers, ones that would do anything to win.

They headed for the base.

"Any luck?" whispered Whirl, avoiding the loud argument going on between Star Saber and Onslaught. Carnivac didn't reply.

It was there, just beyond his reach, the key to this, the key to everything…

"Don't forget who you're talking to, Decepticon!"  
"What, a whiny Micromaster who couldn't beat a Empty in a fight?"  
"Odd talk, coming from one whose side couldn't even conquer Earth despite its total lack of-"  
Carnivac jumped up, his optics alight. "THAT'S IT!" He turned to them, grinning. "That's where I saw that logo! It was on Earth! It was the symbol for their European Union! It…" He trailed off as he realised the implications of what he was saying. "Earth's after us…"  
Star Saber stared in horror. "Inconceivable. They're our allies…"  
"And know everything about our planet because of previous dealings," said Carnivac. "That means they know exactly where to hit, and how hard… And they're destroying us without even having to fire a single shot. Slag…"  
And then, from far away, came the sound of gunfire.

And the sound of Vortex screaming, and hitting the floor.

**Part 4 **

Vortex lay in a tangled heap of circuits and shredded limbs. A tendril of smoke rose from his mouth and his face was twisted into a silent scream.

Tote eyed him coldly. "He's still capable of being repaired."  
"Leave him," said Mudslinger. "We'll come back and finish the job once we've taken out the others. Tote, Powertrain- clear this area. Highjump, you and I will go outside and make sure they don't escape."

"Affirmative."

Onslaught moved very fast. Guns were tossed to the others, the other fugitives contacted and told to head for the exits.

"We need to get out," he said. "And DON'T split up, whatever happens. Stay in groups, keep radio contact on a private channel, be prepared for anything. Shoot to kill."

"What about Fixit and Topspin?" asked Whirl.

"Whoever's invading is after us, not some doc and a retarded Jumpstarter. They'll be fine."  
"They better be, or-"  
"Whatever, just MOVE!"  


Swindle, Brawl and Blast Off also wanted to move. Unfortunately, Twin Twist wanted them to move in the opposite direction.

"I am NOT putting my Spark on the line to go after your brain-dead friend!" screamed Swindle. "Didn't you hear Onslaught? We-"  
"Onslaught can go frag himself. We're going after Topspin-"  
"Yeah? Or what?" Swindle aimed his gun at Twin Twist. "There's three of us, one of you, and we are NOT going to head towards the attackers. Go it?"

Twin Twist narrowed his optics and pushed him aside. "Fine. I'll do it myself."  
He got five steps down the corridor before being answered by a hail of gunfire. The Combaticons watched as he fell down, and looked up ahead to see… nothing. Nothing that could have fired that.

"Cloaking field," muttered Brawl. "RUN!"

Onslaught and the others got outside and ducked as scaled-down Sidewinder missiles streaked towards them. The missiles hit the exit, creating a blast that threw the Transformers away.

Carnivac looked up to see two Micromaster vehicles blazing around the area, not ever making a sound. "This is bad… They'll be heading back this way soon, we have to run!"  
"We run and they'll pick us off easy," said Whirl. "We have to go on the offensive!"  
Onslaught nodded. "You and Star Saber transform and cover us from the air. Carnivac and I will combat them from down here. What about the hideout- you heard the last report from Brawl…"  
"I can help secure it," said Carnivac grimly. "My Pretender shell is down there."  
"Good. Now here's what we do…"

Brawl was down, torn in two by the gunfire. Powertrain had gone on ahead to finish off the remaining Combaticons; Tote had remained behind to find any hiding targets. His sonic dampening field worked like a charm, and his cloaking field was perfect. He smiled- nothing was more satisfying than a well-run op.

He heard a crash in the distance, like a packing crate being broken. He ignored it, and continued onwards.

+++Activate Sensa-scope+++

The world turned into a neon green framework, dissolving walls and displaying the innards of the base. He could see into the nearby room- a Micromaster huddled in a corner, obviously scared, in a makeshift medical room.

One lone Micromaster, confused and frightened by what was going on around him.

Tote's hands shook slightly and he tightened his grip on his gun. He froze, unable to move, think. He could hear screaming, feel searing pain, see the oozing remains of-

_No_. That was the past. It had no bearing on today. No bearing at all.

He raised the gun and took careful aim at where the Micromaster's head was.

+++Pretender Beast shell- online. Cybernetic manipulation mode- active.+++  
+++Motion detected, degree 23-7. Searching for energy signature…+++

+++Signature detected. Autobot; faint; Micromaster.+++  
+++Preparing to attack.+++

Tote heard it coming up swiftly behind him. It made a soft thudding noise as it made, not machine-like at all, and it was covering ground fast-

He spun round and recoiled in fear at the sight. His gun fell from his hands.

"Keep away… KEEP AWAY!"

And it was on him, all tooth and claw.

****

**Part 5 **

****

"Tote, this is Mudslinger- come in."

There wasn't even a whisper of static.

"What do you think happened to him?" asked Highjump.

"NOTHING. Nothing serious has happened, OK? Now, turn and make another strafing run at the targets."  
The Off Road Patrol spun round and sped off back towards the fugitives. A fresh batch of Sidewinder missiles were already sliding up to be launched. They were perfect, ready for any occurrence. There was no possibility that Tote was deactivated. None at all.

"Reaching targets in 5, 4, 3-"  
Machine-gun fire erupted dead in front of them, ricochets peppered their fronts. Mudslinger and Highjump swerved to avoid a direct hit and immediately fired upwards, to discourage their attacks. Star Saber banked right sharply, but Whirl continued his attack, weaving through the air like an injured bird, gunning down at the Micromasters. Mudslinger cursed and headed back the way they'd come.

"We can't reach the ground-based targets without running into the flyers… Highjump, take 'em out."  
"Ten-four."

Swindle and Blast Off ran out of the hideout; Onslaught waved them into a nearby alleyway.

"We have to stay out of sight. Where's Brawl?"  
"Shredded, just like Twin Twist," said Swindle. "These guys are hard… Maybe we could make a deal with them?"  
"Don't be a fool," said Blast Off. "These guys don't want us to surrender, they want us slagged. Pretty damn tough for Micromasters."

"We've got Whirl and the short-aft covering us from the air," said Carnivac. "My Pretender shell just offed one of 'em… Hang on, how many were pursuing you?"

"Dunno. They were cloaked."  
"Ah. Then how do we know there isn't one coming up behind us?"  
As one, they looked towards the hideout's entrance.

"I've got a plan," said Swindle. "Onslaught, gimme yer sonic blaster. Carnivac, get yer shell to block the entrance and switch off its audio sensors…"

"Here he comes again," said Whirl. "Star Saber, when he retreats, blast him in the back. Distract him."  
The jet gave no reply, but moved lower down. Whirl took aim, judging when best to fire, compensating for his erratic movement and the enemy's speed. He grunted slightly as he noticed that the there was only one Micromaster coming this time.

Is he coming a different way, to outflank us?

Whirl's optical sensors darted about, checking for all possible areas where the other one could be, and by chance he looked up. To his amazement, the Micromaster was in robot form and perched almost comically on a building half the street away. Suddenly the Micromaster sprung forwards, covering the distance between them in a second, and dropkicked his way through Whirl's windscreen.

"OH YOU SLAGGING FREAK!"  
"Surprise!" he hissed, drawing his gun. "That's why they call me Highjump. DIE!"

Whirl snarled and _flipped_ forwards, causing Highjump to fall out; he grabbed hold of the edge of the fractured windscreen and hefted his gun, trying to aim & blow out Whirl's rotor.

"Are you nuts as well as cliché?!"

Whirl was preoccupied and Star Saber didn't have much firepower on his own, and so Mudslinger was able to get in range to fire his rockets at Onslaught and the others. He spun round as soon as he'd fired, and so didn't notice Star Saber swooping in and blasting the missile out of the sky.

"Hey, you're good for something after all," said Onslaught.

Swindle lay crouched to the side of the hideout's entrance, the sonic blaster gripped tightly. Carnivac's shell stood immobile in the entrance, blocking the other Transformers from any attack from behind.

_Any moment… Any moment…_

There was a soft, almost inaudible thumping noise as a bullet buried itself in the shell's kneecap, causing it to fall. A few metres away, Carnivac cried out in pain. And Swindle leapt forth and fired the blaster, wide field setting. There was a scream from the cloaked assassin and the entrance rippled slightly as the noise played havoc with the attacker's cloaking systems.

"Got the creep!" cried Swindle, firing at the blur with his regular sidearm. The cloak gave out entirely and Powertrain collapsed, his chest completely punctured. "Two down."

Whirl shook himself thoroughly, throwing off Highjump's aim but failing to dislodge the attacker himself. In fact, his grip was actually tightening.

"You gonna keep doing this until you're dead like the other one?!"  
Highjump suddenly froze out of shock, allowing Whirl to finally shake him off. He landed all right, but when Mudslinger came back for another run, he stopped and transformed. The two of them looked visibly shaken.

Mudslinger called up to them, his voice trembling. "What do you mean?!"  
"I mean we've just killed one of you, and taken down another," said Whirl. "Wanna go for four stiffs?"  
He was prepared for a vengeful blast of fire from below. He was prepared for an angry reply. He was not prepared to see the two of them drop their weapons and raise their hands in the air.

"R-R-Return them! NOW! We'll leave, we won't tell anyone where your hideout is, JUST SLAGGING RETURN THEIR BODIES!" Mudslinger was screaming, out of control, insane.

And that was that. The fugitives threw away the injured Powertrain and the decapitated corpse of Tote, and watched, guns armed, as the Off Road Patrol left. Mudslinger's scream echoed in Whirl's mind for hours to come.

Fixit groaned when he was the fresh batch of casualties he had to patch up. All this on top of Topspin-

Swindle walked in, fairly strutting. "Hey you. Heard yer not doing too well on repairing Topspin. Ya don't have all the needed parts to repair his brain module."  
Fixit was guarded, tense. "Yesss…"  
Swindle tossed him Tote's head. "Here's your parts."  
Fixit felt sick. His lip trembled and he backed away slightly. "Ngn… Ngn…"

"In return for this, you repair my buddies before that slagsucker Twin Twist. Got it?"  
He stared at the ragged edges where it had been viciously torn from the neck, and felt like screaming. Instead he said "thank you."

Swindle left, feeling satisfied.

"You think they'll hold up their end of the bargain?" asked Onslaught.

"Yes," said Star Saber. "I hired them, back when I was in power. They have a rather large number of mental problems. I would say you've rattled them quite a bit; they'll stay quiet."

"Now then; we know who's behind the Software Wars. We know they know we know. I see it's time we stopped running, and time we went on the offensive."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. 3

**SOFTWARE WARS III**

By Charles Ellis 

**Meet the New Boss II **

By Charles Ellis

**New Iacon, kilometre from the Citadel, 15/4/2299 **

To get to Springer's Citadel, you had to walk through the remains of the last riot. Past burnt-out wrecks that could have been vehicles, or could have been Transformers. Through an almost solid aura of fear and anger.

"Never again." Grimlock looked over to the Citadel and scowled. "Never again."  
"Uh… boss?" asked Sludge. "You OK?"  
"Me OK. Status report?"  
"Jazz and Swoop are in position; Hound is scooping the place out, to see where the thickest guard concentration is. Siren's got half the guards off the premises, not sure how. Everyone else is ready to move on your command."  
"Good." Grimlock clasped his hands together and waited silently for Hound's report.

Jazz's position happened to be 40 metres above the Citadel in an anti-gravity jet-pack, with Swoop half a kilometre to his West. He peered through his binoculars, keeping an eye on the Guardian units, while an old Earthen metal song blared in his internal radio.

"_BZZT. This is Hound. The guards are concentrated at the sides of the Citadel- this is your window, guys. BZZT_."

"Gotcha."

Jazz moved through the air like a hand in a silken glove. He was moving fast and reached the roof of the building in ten seconds, from the rear. Reality gave a shudder and a long coil of rope was taken from subspace and fastened to the top of the building. The rope was dropped down the side of the building, and Jazz began climbing down. He inched down carefully, staring downwards towards the two Guardian units that stood like statues by the doors.

Swoop locked on to the part of the Citadel where, according to Siren, the security systems were run from. A small rocket streaked from his wing, carrying within it a powerful EMP charge that would knock out all cameras, remote weaponry and also the security card readers on doors, allowing anybody to be able to enter important areas.

"This is Swoop. Move in five."

**Cybertronian space **

The bridge of the TTSC (Terran Technical Starcraft) _Trojan_. Commander Witwicky leaned in his chair, reading the latest status reports. Already seven hundred Transformers were dead, 85% of which had had their corpses intercepted en route to the Sun. The population appeared to be rebellious, with twenty riots having occurred across Cybertron since 7th March, five of which had occurred in New Iacon, the latest of which had been a mere kilometre from Springer's Citadel. Tension was rife, and Cybertronian colonies such as Yerril were debating whether or not to send peace-keeping forces in.

_Perfect. The whole festering boil is ready to pop. Hope so- we've been in this patch of space for months now. We should be able to return home, surely?_  
A smile crossed his lips as he thought of his wife and their children. He'd been seperated from them for too long, but daddy had important work to do overturning Cybertron. Still, nothing was more important than family- it was why he was doing this. Not that he had needed to be prompted, everyone knew that-

"Sir!" Hallo, part of the team in charge of controlling Springer. He sounded worried.

"What is it, Hallo?"  
"We've lost contact with the unit! The Citadel has just… vanished from all our sensors!"  
Witwicky frowned. "Impossible! They can't have found our spy-sensors out! They'd have told the unit! Unless…" He broke into a grin again. "Ah, I know what's happening. It's an attack. The robots have finally started a civil war. No need to panic, this is just what we want."

**New Iacon, Cybertron **

****

"GO!"  
The Turbo Racer blazed towards the Citadel. Bluestreak was driving, with Blurr riding shotgun and Snarl in the back- both were armed for drive-by shooting.

"CanWeReachTheCitadelInTime?"  
"You bet!" said Bluestreak. "All we need is a little Energon, and a LOT of luck."  
"Do you have to be so cliché?" asked Snarl.

"Hush your mouth."

Grimlock ran, Sludge trying to keep up. The promise of combat, the thrill of battle, it filled his every circuit and code, it made him feel like he was pumped full of Nucleon- it made him feel ALIVE.

Without even thinking about it, he transformed and roared into the night.

Jazz had been timing it. The others would hit the Citadel three minutes after Swoop had fired his EMP-missile. The Guardians needed to be offline by then. It had been two minutes, 32.5 seconds…

He drew his photon blaster. He was ten storeys above the Guardians, the weak point he needed to hit was at an odd angle to him, but he could make it.

He fired two shots almost lazily. Each one hit the back of the Guardian's necks, burning through it and frying the circuitry inside. They went offline.

Four seconds later, the Turbo Racer came into view.

Bluestreak fired the proton missiles, blowing the Citadel gates off their hinges. The vehicle screeched to a stop and Blurr jumped out. Several guards came running over, arming their rifles; Blurr reached them, knocked them out and confiscated the guns in five seconds.

The other rebels showed up soon afterwards, overwhelming the guards- faced with the Dinobots strength and Blurr's lightning attacks, the guards quickly surrendered.

Grimlock kicked the door down and stormed into Springer's office.

"Springer! You being kicked out of office!"  
Springer gave no reply. He just sat there, looking out the window. Grimlock, annoyed by this, grabbed the chair and spun it round, only to find Springer was offline. The Dinobot stared in surprise for a few seconds and then neatly chopped his head off.

**Planet-wide broadcast, 16/4/2299 **

"Autobots, this is Grimlock. Me has taken over from Springer- Springer's head now being debugged, since he mind-hacked. All that Springer done lately has been caused by mind-hackers. Me Grimlock not like mind-hackers, or any who steal free will from Transformers. Me find them, and me slag them.

"This all you need to know. Good day."

**Debugging **

**By Charles Ellis **

**TTSC _Trojan_, Cybertronian space, 16/4/2299- 20 minutes after Grimlock's broadcast **

****

Commander Witwicky took a deep breath and turned to face the most powerful men on Earth. They were light years away and he was merely facing a giant TV screen receiving transmissions from Earth, but it still scared the willies out of him. Roache, President of the European Union. Walker, President of Western America (a coalition of West Coast states, formed after the Second Civil War of 2208). Ishida, Prime Minister of Japan. Gerald Way, the head of computing conglomerate GateWay LTD. Very, VERY powerful men, all of whom had large investments in the Software Wars, none of which wanted Witwicky to fail and all of which could make his life _very_ miserable if he did.

"Report, Commander," said Roache.

He cleared his throat and went into it. "There has been a coup on Cybertron, and one rather more successful than we anticipated. We expected the Autobot populace to have broken down into mobs, fighting amongst each other out of paranoia and fear. Instead, a group of war veterans has seized control, knocking Springer offline and doubtless debugging him, and we have lost all but two of our spy sensors after the new leader Grimlock ordered a sweep of the whole Citadel."  
"Does this make a difference?"  
"Yes sir. Grimlock, while a bad long-term planner, is very charismatic. He's calming the populace and the civil unrest on the planet, and his approach may create a relaxed, democratic government, which is not what we want. Our only hope is that he ends up running the planet into the ground, but he'll undoubtedly hire others to do day-to-day thinking for him. This sets our agenda back by a long while."  
Ishida, his eyes narrow and hawk-like, said calmly: "You do have hacked Autobots among the populace, I presume?"  
"Yes sir! Thirty two of them, in four different cities, all programmed to stir up trouble and start meagre rebellion groups. We'd just set them into operation, we judged the time to be right for a manipulated civil war, but with Grimlock in charge, I can't say how effective our puppets would be."

"Any chance of the new administration linking the hackings to us?"  
"No sir, we've been careful about that. Using Pretender shells gained from deals from the Autobots in the past, employing Decepticons, using the Off Road Patrol to terminate the fugitives, terminating Star Sa-…"

"Yes, that's another thing," broke in Walker. "What about the fugitives? Are you quite sure they're dead? They're an impressive group- several Wreckers, an ex-Mayhem, the Combaticons and an unknown Micromaster. We can't afford to have them find out the truth and come gunning for us."  
"No need to worry, the Off Road Patrol reported them all dead," said Witwicky. "Now, barring the new administration… What are my orders? Stay here or return to Earth?"

"Do we have enough Cybertronian technology for our goals?" asked Way.

"I believe so. We've shipped approximately three tonnes of raw material to Earth, including working brain modules for examination; we've already started building weapons based on the technology, and twelve prototypes of the Nightbird All-Terrain Combat Units have been constructed, ready for testing." He controlled his voice, not wanting to seem too eager to return home. "With the information we have, Earth can be advanced by three decades scientifically, and will take its place as the galaxy's new major arms and software dealer."  
Roache nodded slowly. "Yes… Still, remain near Cybertron for another three weeks; continue to salvage raw material. Remember, we don't just want the technology, we want Cybertron toppled."  
"I know," he said. "This is less easy under Grimlock than under Springer, but I can have my team working on it- a few suicide bombings in choice places, with enough evidence to finger various religious and corporate groups, maybe the use of our mind-hacked Security Forces agents… I'm confident the robots will cause a small uprising. It won't be as devastating as the one we had planned, but we're close to irreparably damaging the robot's government."

"Excellent. Continue the good work, Commander. Report if you gain any important news."  
The transmission ended, and Witwicky gave a sigh of relief. He turned to Janeway, his Communications Officer. "How'd I do?"

"You visibly wet yourself when they showed up," she said, grinning fit to burst.

"I was that obvious?" he chuckled. "Still… Three more weeks in this godforsaken stretch of space? Bollocks. Why can't the damn robots just kill themselves already?"  
"Nag, nag, nag… C'mon, let's get a drink."

**???, New Iacon- 25 minutes after Grimlock's broadcast **

"Grimlock's rebellion does not change a thing," said Onslaught. "We are still fighting this campaign by ourselves; if we get the Autobot government involved, it could make it easier for the humans to find out what we're planning." He looked at Whirl, obviously sceptical judging by his body language, and sighed. "Yes, there is ALSO the fact that I'm worried that me and the boys would get slagged by Grimlock- he's not the sort of 'Bot to ally himself with Decepticons. Still… Do we really want our strategies to become more widely known? Who knows how many Autobots in High Command are mind-hacked puppets? It would jeopardise the mission."

"He's right," said Star Saber. "The smaller our operation, the less chance of the enemy finding out about our plans, or that the Off Road Patrol didn't kill us."

"Fine," sighed Whirl, spreading his arms in an 'I surrender' gesture. "We won't go to Grimlock. I just thought that would be better for us, in terms of resources. We aren't sure if the modified Cerebro-shell will work."

"It will," said Onslaught.

Whirl didn't believe him. The plan was that they would blast off a coffin containing the corpse of the Reductionist that Vortex had salvaged last week; the humans would pick it up, not knowing the coffin also contained a modified Cerebro-shell capable of flying towards the nearest computer outpost and easily hacking into the system. It would then fashion as a link between the system and the group's little computer, allowing them to damage the human's system.

IF the coffin was picked up, IF the Cerebro-shell worked, IF they weren't beaten by the system's protection programs, IF something new happened to screw up everything. It was too risky a plan, and Whirl didn't like it. It was unlikely they'd ever get another shot at this and if they didn't, they'd be forced to try a direct assault on the human's space station. Whirl liked tough odds, but he drew the line at certain death.

Star Saber said: "Are you absolutely certain Swindle can handle this?"  
"Course," laughed Onslaught. "He's a master hacker! He was responsible for getting Springer hacked, y'know!"

Star Saber narrowed his optics. "_Oh really_."

"I shouldn't have said that, should I?"

"_No_."

"Anyway," broke in Whirl, "how long before we can launch the coffin?"  
"We'll be doing it in a few hours. I need you and Carnivac on patrol, just in case we get attacked during the op. Saber and I will be with Swindle."

Whirl nodded. He knew that he and Carnivac would be better suited for guard duty, due to their respective aerial and Pretender abilities. However, to be on the safe side, he'd made it so Brawl, Blast Off and Vortex would all be going out to launch the coffin. He didn't want a full force of Combaticons inside the hideout, especially while Topspin and Twin Twist were still being repaired; it would be too easy for Onslaught to decide, at some point, that he didn't need the Autobots anymore.

Onslaught knew Whirl's reasons, though the Wrecker had never mentioned them out loud. He didn't need to. Onslaught knew, and had agreed to having the other Combaticons being sent out. However, he'd secretly informed the three of them to, when returning to the hideout, go to a nearby Decepticon base, get some support and annihilate Whirl & Carnivac when returning.

Nothing personal, Autobot. I'm only obeying orders. And once you two die, I can deal with Shorty and your hospitalised buddies. That should help get me back in Soundwave's good books.

Star Saber had no ulterior motive that he'd inserted into the counter-offence plan. He was content to watch the other two, dissect their actions to reveal the schemes beneath and formulate plans based on that.

**The Armoury, the Citadel, New Iacon **

It was a room of death.

Shelf after shelf, stacked high with devices designed for slaying and smashing. Subtle weapons for assassinations, battlefield weapons, weapons purely designed to cause as much destruction as possible. Mudslinger liked this place; the dormant weapons gave off an aura of power that calmed his troubled mind and made him forget himself.

He ran his fingers delicately over a downsized fusion cannon, and a sigh escaped his lips. Then his face hardened, and he grabbed the weapon. It latched onto his shoulder like it was a part of him.

He turned to Highjump and Powertrain, as if to say something, and then fell quiet. Nothing needed to be said. They knew what to do. Their commanding officers had been told the fugitives were dead, as they'd promised Whirl. They'd also promised him that they'd leave him and his band of murderers alone.

They were breaking that promise. They owed it to Tote.

"An optic for an optic," whispered Mudslinger, and his voice burned with rage.

**TTSC _Trojan_, Cybertronian space, 17/4/2299- 1530 hours **

****

Witwicky was feeling restless. He'd spent too much time planning attacks and hackings, he'd spent too much time away from home… He was tired with the mission. He'd never expected it to take this long. Witwicky had always subconsciously expected the robots to have all turned on each other after a week of the Software Wars, and was feeling rather pissed to find out otherwise.

So he'd come back to his quarters, and decided to look through the history records. Specifically, the ones dealing with Earth/Cybertron relations.

It didn't make for very varied reading. It always involved Earth being torn up.

His hands shook every time he read about 1994. The Transformers had attacked Earth in full force, devastating cities the world over. Millions of lives, snuffed out. The world's economy badly hit. It had been the worst war-related atrocity in Earth's history until 2040, and what had happened? The American government had let the robots build a city there. They had LET the murdering bastards use our land and resources…

_They still do. Autobot City has been on Earth for centuries now, and what do we have to show for it? The countless dead, and our resources being taken so they can further their own war. They won't even share their technology with us, we had to STEAL the Pretender technology despite how useful it would have been medically and for emergency services…_

_That's not what irks you though, is it? What irks you is that your ancestors were in the Transformers cheering section, isn't it? Every little schoolboy learns about how Sparkplug Witwicky betrayed his nation by repairing Transformers so they could continue to fight and kill. Every little schoolboy learns about how your family helped warmongers_.

Witwicky, his eye twitching and his skin clammy, shot out his hand and shut off the terminal. Records of ancient carnage disappeared in the blink of an eye.

_Calm yourself, Witwicky. It'll all be over soon. All be over… And the Witwicky name will be redeemed after two centuries of shame._

**???? Medical Room, New Iacon, Cybertron- 1549 hours **

He awoke from a dream of teeth and pain, and shook his head slightly as he tried to work out who he was.

_I'm a Wrecker_-  
_ (Micromaster) _

_My name is…_

_(Tote) _

_…Topspin. I am… where am I?_  
"Y-you're alive…"

Topspin turned to see Twin Twist looking at him, trembling, as if he were a human and about to burst into tears. They were both lying on an operating table, wires attached to their core processors.

"I knew you wouldn't die," he whispered. "Not you. Not Topspin."

Topspin slowly reached out for Twin Twist's hand, and clutched it tightly. He wasn't sure what was going on or why he kept recalling searing acid and comrades melting before his eyes, but he was hear, with his friend, and his friend loved him.

And that was enough.

**Industrial district, New Iacon, Cybertron- 1800 hours **

****

The coffin vanished from sight, and Vortex sighed.

"Well, that's that done. C'mon, let's get some muscle and go kill our allies."

"Sounds good to me," chuckled Brawl. The Combaticons started to walk. "So, once we've wasted the Autobots, what're you gonna d-"

Blast Off thrust his arm out, blocking his comrade's path. "There's a factory just a few metres away, we can make it if we move quickly." His voice was low and his optics fixated on the road ahead.

"Why do we need to-?"  
"Because we're being hunted." He and the others began to walk backwards, quickly, and he continued to talk as he armed his ionic blaster. "I have my communication systems tuned in to as many frequencies as possible, because I was worried we might get attacked by cloaked enemies again. I picked up the transmissions they're making to each other. They're the same guys we fought last time, and they're trying to surround us. We have to get inside, and call for back-up."

They were backed up against the factory door- a quick wind funnel blast from Vortex and it was halfway across the floor. They scrambled in, used Blast Off's laser to weld the door back in place and darted around, looking for cover. There was a large conveyor belt the dominated the building and a few small stacks of crates- it wouldn't work, it was far too open. They could hide by transforming, but that would limit Blast Off & Vortex.

Brawl activated his communication systems. "Brawl to Onslaught, we've got-"  
"_Shut up, you stinking MURDERERS_."

Brawl cried out and instinctively took a step back- that was Mudslinger's voice.

"_We have a Communications Dampener in place- nothing in this area can send any transmissions, except for me and my men. You k-k-killed Tote, and we're taking that out of your chassis…_" The transmission ended, and was replaced with a new one, a single word repeated over and over on an infinite loop, full of hate and loathing:  
"_Die._"  
"_Die_."

"_Die_."

**TTSC _Trojan_, Cybertronian space- 1812 hours **

****

The corpse was removed and taken to the lab, the coffin stripped down for spare parts. As the engineers did this, they chatted about Earth sports events and going home and completely failed to notice the Cerebro-shell skim through the air and attach itself to a computer terminal.

**????, beneath New Iacon- 1813 hours **

****

"OK, I'm in," said Swindle. "They've got some nasty little encryption codes, they might take a while to crack."

"You haven't been detected yet?" asked Onslaught.

"Nope. Course, I haven't really done anything yet. I have access to really boring stuff, like waste disposal rota…"

Swindle was connected neurally to the ratty computer terminal they'd scavenged. This allowed for easier hacking on the human ship's computer, but it was far riskier. Any anti-virus program they had could potentially trash his systems. Still, Swindle wasn't worried; he was in his element. He enjoyed hacking, the way it made him feel powerful- he could manipulate systems to his liking, do anything he liked to them and he could never be traced. He occasionally hacked Galvatron's personal files, just to prove he could (and as a slight rebellion against Galvatron).

Sure, the human system was tough, but he could deal with it. He'd already used several special programs within his brain module to decipher the lower level security passwords, and now he had access to the surveillance systems. They could prove useful; he tried them out, watching the ship through the dozens of cameras, seeing all that was going on-

"Oh Primus."

He was seeing into the ship's laboratory. He was seeing the bodies of Transformers, carefully dissected, their every component laid out for all to see. He was seeing brain modules being examined, plundered. He was seeing… everything.

And he remembered a few weeks ago, when Bombshell had discovered that the virus's the humans were using

(_the ones you helped to spread_)

weren't killing Transformers, but were creating a simulation of death good enough to fool Autobot medical systems. And now they knew why- the humans wouldn't to examine how Transformers worked, so they could use that technology for their own ends.

To fully examine Transformers, they needed living specimens.

They were dissecting living Transformers, and he'd helped them do it.

"Oh Primus," he repeated, and now his voice was choked.

**Industrial district, New Iacon, Cybertron- 1830 hours **

****

"_Die_."

"_Die_."

Blast Off felt on the verge of going mad. That damned message wouldn't stop playing- he didn't know what device the Off Road Patrol were using, but they couldn't stop their communicators picking up the message.

There had been no attack. Nothing even close to one. Nothing but the message, repeating over and over.

"_Die_."

They'd considered running for it, but no- Blast Off could tell they were surrounded. They'd be lucky to get two steps before being mown down.

"_Die_."

Brawl's hands were shaking, and his gun was serving about the place. "I swear I'm going to shoot myself if it doesn't stop," he hissed. "I can't take this anymore, I've got to get OUT, gotta actually fight-"  
"Don't," snapped Vortex. "I can't stand it either, but we go out there, we'll DIE. We won't get repaired, because those guys will bury our bodies somewhere far far away and will take our brain modules and personally MELT them, you understand?"

"_Die_."

"That might be preferable!" Brawl started to pace again. "What is with those slagging Autobots? Why don't they attack?"  
Blast Off didn't talk. He was too scared that if he did, anything he said would come out as a scream. He didn't want to be seen as hysterical, he COULDN'T be hysterical. He was scared, and he wanted to curl up in a ball and just shut himself down, because he couldn't take any more of this FEAR, this mind-numbing dread that was oozing its way through every circuit.

Gunfire tore through the factory windows.

The Combaticons screamed and fired their guns wildly, not knowing where the attack had come from, not caring, reducing the crates in the factory to splinters and the conveyor belt to slag.

After a minute of hysteria, they stopped and looked around. Blast Off could see that one window had been broken by enemy fire- maybe three, four shots had been fired. Nobody had been hit. But it had been enough to set them off, cause them to use up half their ammunition and destroy what little cover they'd had. And now Blast Off knew what the Micromaster's plan was- they didn't just want to KILL them, oh no. They wanted the Combaticons to be reduced to quivering, screaming wrecks before they were gunned down. And maybe they WOULDN'T kill the Combaticons, maybe they'd blow off their limbs, immobilise them, let them lie in pain before the final release.

"_Die_."

"_Die_."

"_Die_."

Blast Off hissed and holstered his gun. "Screw this! It's time we stopped playing by their rules."

"What?!" exclaimed Vortex. "You're not seriously thinking of trying to shoot it out with guys we can't SEE, are you?!"  
"Look. They've trapped us in here. We're unable to go on the offensive as they're cloaked and unable to call for help because they've got some Communications Dampener in place. Now, this entire area is dampened… but I'm betting that if I can fly high enough, I can escape the Dampener's effects."  
Brawl grabbed him by the arm. "You're not planning to leave us here, are you?!"

"NO! I plan to fly upwards, call for help and come back down. I need you two to distract the Micro's with random fire- I don't want to get shot outta the sky. Clear?"  
"Yeah," said Vortex.

Blast Off flipped over, transformed in mid-air and landed nosecone-up. His shuttle's engines roared into life and he launched, blasting an exit in the roof with his frontal laser. He could hear Brawl and Vortex fire out the windows as he went. Hopefully that should distract the Micromaster's-

WOOOOSH

He can detect a heat-seeker missile coming up fast from the factory roof- there was a Micromaster hiding there! It was locked onto his engines, it was too late to dodge, he was 900 metres up and climbing, he had just one shot at this…

"Blast Off to Whirl! Off Road Patrol is back, we're trapped in the Industrial Sector, come qui-"

The explosion hurled him out of the sky and he was dashed to pieces on the ground.

Highjump smiled. "Strike one."

****

**????, beneath New Iacon- 1900 hours **

****

Swindle hadn't talked since he'd seen the lab. His face was a mask and inside he nursed a cold rage. Rage was good. It wasn't shame, or grief, or-

_Stop. Concentrate. Can't make a single mistake_.

He was slowly working his way through the human's systems, gaining access to everything and deactivating security programs as he went. This was slow work, and hard for him- usually he'd cracked a system by now. But he had to remain patient and calm, or they'd catch him, and-

He'd found them. The confidential files, containing lists of those who'd financed and directed the Software Wars. Many high-ranking Earth politicians, businessmen, military officials and scientists had been involved in this. Then there was the programs dealing with the ship's weapons, radar, communications and cloaking field.

Jackpot!

Eagerly, he plunged into the files and set off every single alarm the ship had.

"Ooops."

**TTSC _Trojan_, Cybertronian space- 1901 hours **

Witwicky slammed his fist on the terminal. A Transformer was hacking their systems, and they'd only just noticed. Damn it!

"Bring the security programs back online," he barked. "We can't let the robots find out anything!"

**????, beneath New Iacon- 1901 hours, 32 seconds**

His gears were locking up in fear. He didn't know what to do- he had at least three minutes before the security programs activated and wiped his core. He had no idea of what files he needed to grab, no idea of how to respond, he could feel the seconds ticking away and-

Swindle fought against the panic and set to work. He needed to do as much as possible in under three minutes. Calmly, he selected a random file and started to download it into a spare part of his brain module. It'd take roughly ten seconds to get the file; already, he was selecting the second for downloading. He devoted a small part of his system to the downloading; the rest was working hard to drop the ship's cloaking field.

There were passwords needed to access that, but Swindle managed to hack it easily. Now, here was the tricky part- keeping the field offline for long enough. Already another part of his system was deploying one of his private viruses.

And now…

**Surveillance/defence satellite _Retina_, Cybertronian space- 1902 hours**

Cosmos shook himself out of his bored stupor as a space station suddenly appeared on the satellite's radar. At first, he thought it was just a prank by Neogen Autobots, but the space station still remained there. No hoax could last that long, not against this sophisticated a system.

_So… It must be a Decepticon satellite._

A flick of a button, and the satellite's solar cannon began to charge up.

**TTSC _Trojan_, Cybertronian space- 1902 hours- 24 seconds **

****

"The robot had deployed a virus in our system, sir- it's trashing our safety checks, we can't use passwords to access anything."  
"The anti-viral programs can handle that. Concentrate on bringing them back, not that minor virus!"

Swindle was racing through the system, downloading file after file. He thought he had enough files, but best to make sure. After all, he didn't want to run the risk of pissing off-

The anti-viral programs reactivated and, seeing Swindle as a hostile alien, proceeded to delete his mind.

**Industrial district, New Iacon, Cybertron- 1902 hours **

****

Whirl could hear the snarl of gunfire in the distance. He ignored it. Every line of code screamed at him to charge in and save the day through heroic use of firearms, but therein lied death. It had taken him over half an hour to get what he needed- finding a black-market dealer he knew by rumour, killing said dealer to stop his trade hurting civilians (and to avoid having to pay for what he wanted), reaching the Micromaster's Communications Dampener without being spotted…

He was ready now. He blasted the Dampener, taking it offline, and quickly placed radioed the Combaticons: "Shutdown audio receptors!".

That done, he shut off his own, activated his illegally-purchased sonic mine, and flew as far up as possible.

As he watched, the ground below rippled slightly as the sonic force spread outwards. The sonic force destroyed every window in a 30-metre radius, short-circuited the Micromaster's cloaking technology and caused them to collapse in pain. The mine was now spent, and Whirl switched his audio receptors back on & flew down, firing as he went.

"Whirl to Combaticons," he radioed. "I'm going for an aerial assault on those Micro's- prepare to back me up."  


Brawl and Vortex nodded to each other and prepared to move, when grenades came down through the hole in the roof, blasting them to the other side of the room and trashing their armour. Highjump leapt down and sprang towards Brawl, preparing for a headshot, but Brawl fired first. The blast tore Highjump in two.

"Pretty dumb move, shorty," he muttered.

Their fire was wilder than before, and Whirl was finding it harder to dodge. Lasers were clipping his sides and he couldn't slow down to target without making it easy for them to blast his rotor. Desperately, he fired several missiles, hoping to cause them to scatter, but they didn't even flinch.

Vortex shot out of the factory, creating a wind funnel which blew the Micromaster's over. Whirl stopped in mid-air and fired once, taking out Powertrain. Mudslinger rolled away from the Autobot's fire and blasted Vortex once in the chest. The Combaticon went down, his fuel pumps ignited.

Mudslinger laughed and turned to Whirl, his lips curled and his optics gleaming with hatred. He had the helicopter dead in his sights…

Whirl blasted a wide-range paralysing ray. Mudslinger was frozen in place, unable to move, and Brawl took this opportunity to come over and beat seven quarts of lubricant out of him.

**????, beneath New Iacon- 1903 hours **

****

"SWINDLE!"

Swindle was shaking and screaming. His optics were wide and unfocused, and his scream was building and building in pitch and-

Onslaught ripped his comrade's neural connections from the computer and caught him as he collapsed. His face was frozen in the scream. Onslaught looked at him numbly for a few seconds before running to the medic's room.

**TTSC _Trojan_, Cybertronian space- 1903 hours- 17 seconds **

****

Witwicky smiled and cracked his knuckles. The robot intruder had been defeated, and any data he may have stolen would have been wiped. They were still ahead of the game. He casually glanced at his terminal and his blood ran cold.

+++WARNING. Cloaking field offline for 1 minute 17 seconds. Reactivate it Y/N?+++

The implications of them becoming visible on radar sunk in. His hand slammed down on his terminal, cutting in on the station's radio, and yelled: "Evacuate the _Trojan_! We've been detected by Cybertron, we MUST evacuate!"

He threw himself out of his chair and started to run for the lifts- he knew there were not enough ships for get everyone on board out, and didn't intend to be left behind. Behind him came the sound of feet pounding on the floor as the rest of the bridge crew ran after him. He'd reached the lift first and fought his more baser instincts in order to let them get on.

They reached the Spacecraft Hanger ahead of the crowd, and packed themselves into a small 5-seater- there was no time for comfort, they had to get OUT.

Witwicky was able to fly the craft out into space and turned to wait for the others. His brow was matted with sweat and he found himself shaking- he was terrified. Terrified of how many were going to die because HE had let one of those fucking robots hack his system. He watched the open hanger doors, waiting for any other craft to come out.

He waited for only five seconds, but it felt like years. And he never saw anyone else come out, because then everything went white as the solar beam hit the TTSC Trojan and turned it into white-hot slag that froze in the abyss of space.

****

**????, beneath New Iacon- 1912 hours **

****

Swindle's eyes glowed as he came back online. Groaning, he got up and shook his head.

"Uh… I'm alive, right?"  
Onslaught grinned under his mask. "Yes, thank Primus. I got to you just in time, your system is mostly intact."  
Swindle decided not to ask about why only "mostly", and instead said: "I got all the data we needed. Now, er… Where's the others?"  
Fixit coughed and pointed to Brawl, Whirl, Carnivac and Star Saber standing nearby, with the pieces of Blast Off on one of the tables. The Jumpstarters were looking at this with amusement.

"Ah. So, I guess the plan to kill all the Autobots and leave is out then?"  
"Thank you for telling the nice Mr Whirl and Carnivac that," sighed Onslaught, "and YES. Too uneven a battle. We'll just give Short-aft what he wants, get a crate for Blast Off and head back to base to get him repaired." He shot Swindle a look. "You DID take the cloaking field off, right?"  
"Yep."

"So. It's over. The Software Wars are over."  
Star Saber shot him a contemptuous look. "Hardly. There's much we need to do yet…"

**Software Wars: Epilogue **

By Charles Ellis 

**The Citadel, New Iacon, Cybertron, 18/4/2299**

Grimlock could get used to this. The chair was comfy, the office had a GREAT view AND he was in charge of the entire planet. There was the pressing need to find who had started the Software Wars and destroy them, and he was planning for that, but right now all he could do was look out the Citadel window and watch the giant red jet coming right towards him WHAT THE-

The windows opened a second before the jet reached them and it flew into the room and transformed into the titanic form of Star Saber.

"Ah, Grimlock," he said. "You can stop down now."  
"But- YOU DEAD!"

"It's a long story. Suffice to say, I'm alive." And luckily I have several secret storerooms dotted about the planet, one of which included a replica of my giant form. Had to wait until the Software War was over before trying to retrieve it, if the human's mind-hacked puppets had seen me alive…

Grimlock glared at Star Saber. The door behind him swung open as Great Shot, Siren and Jazz came running in. There was a lot of pointless exclamations and the like, all of which ended when Grimlock whipped out his sword.

"Me not stepping down," he whispered. "Me not letting you rule Cybertron again. Not after what you let happen, not after all you done to Cybertron."  
Star Saber drew his sword and slipped into a fighting stance. "You think you can beat me in this?"  
Jazz pulled out his gun. "Hey, you fight Grimlock, I'm backing him up. Let's see how you do with BOTH of us against you."  
"I wouldn't do this, you guys," said Siren nervously. "Star Saber's better with a sword than you, Grimlock… Just back down, we can't win this."  
Grimlock didn't move.

"You think you could rule any better than I have," asked Star Saber, his voice casual. "Your first two attempts at commanding the Autobot army during the 20th Century were a bloody shambles! First time round you were a tyrant yourself; second time you got most of your men killed in a simple ambush and were only saved by the timely arrival of the Last Autobot. What makes you believe you could run Cybertron? Run it well, keep the Energon coming in and preventing the Decepticons from regaining a foothold? Do you really think you could? Are you really willing to risk the planet's stability because my reign is slightly restrictive?"  
Grimlock didn't answer. He stood still for a minute before finally putting his sword back.

"Good boy, Grimlock."  
Jazz snarled and was ready to blast off verbal abuse, but Grimlock shook his head. He walked out of the office, Jazz following. Before he went, he turned to Star Saber and said: "You not rule forever. You not stop rebellion against oppression by more oppression. One day we Autobots rise against you. One day you lose power. It will happen. Count on it."

And he left.

**Maccadam's Old Oil House, New Iacon, Cybertron **

****

Whirl, Carnivac and the Jumpstarters watched Star Saber's broadcast about how the mind-hackers (Decepticons, of course) had been defeated, how it was all over etc etc…

"Ah, I can't take this slag anymore," said Carnivac. "The only good bit is that he's excusing Sideswipe and Ratchet for their crimes done under mind-hacking. The rest is spin served up with a helping of major bull."

"That's all past us now," said Whirl. "It's over, we did our part, time for a drink."

"What about the Off Road Patrol?"  
"What about them? Star Saber will deal with that- they DID try to kill him too, remember."

The Autobots lay back and enjoyed their drinks.

A while later, the door opened and the Wreckers came in. They stared in awe at Topspin and Broadside had to sit down.

"This is impossible," whispered Ultra Magnus. "You're alive…"  
"Nah," said Topspin, his face and voice utterly serious, "I'm a Kalis zombie. I'm just here to eat all your brains."

There was silence, and then they all began laughing. And there were explanations and drinks and celebration, and it lasted for the night.

**U.N., America, Earth **

****

The screen crackled and Star Saber came into view. The most powerful men on Earth looked at him in surprise. President Walker, trying to control his face, said: "Hello, Star Saber. We weren't expecting a communiqué from you, we'd heard you were… er…"  
"Dead?" asked Saber innocently. "Killed by my Chief of Security and the planet's greatest medic?"  
"Erm… yes. We're very glad to see you're alive, and if there's-"  
"Shut up." Star Saber's optics were glowing with loathing. "A recent ally of mine downloaded a lot of random files from the TTSC _Trojan_. They all concern the recent spat of mind-hackings and viral-related terrorism, and do you know, they finger more than half of you as responsible. And here I thought we were allies." Star Saber folded his arms. "Interesting, wouldn't you say?

"I have footage and reports on your dealings with the Combaticons, criminals wanted throughout this galaxy, and also of your laboratories and what you did to living Transformers in them. I know what you were doing with that knowledge and how you were trying to destroy my government and throw Cybertron into chaos. I know all this.

"I don't like people trying to destroy or harm what is mine. And not only did you try to destroy my planet, you tried to kill me and have my loyal associate Sideswipe do it through mind-hacking. He and Ratchet have been excused for their crimes by me- after all, why should I punish them? You made them do it. There's a lot you did. Earth is an unimportant planet and is desperately trying to take a higher position in galactic politics. Now, I wonder what all this would do to that decision? The universe hates Transformers, but it also hates people who start wars, who brainwash people, who vivisect living sentient beings, who deal with wanted terrorists and who try to overthrow regimes. You might end up blockaded from the rest of the universe. The universe might even let us unleash a full-scale assault on your planet.

"I won't tell them, because I see no need. This is a private affair, wouldn't you agree? Now, I leave you with this message- STAY AWAY FROM CYBERTRON. You interfere with my planet or regime again, and I will hit you. I will hit you harder than your world has ever been hit. Your world would never recover.

"We are now enemies. You will allow Autobot City: Earth to remain there, but it will ignore you and you will ignore it. Autobot City is the ONLY reason I don't send in Cyberforming crews right now. Pray that Autobot City never becomes obsolete, because if that happens, then I will have no further reason to be nice to your world."  
And he signed off.

THE END 


End file.
